Them Bones, Them Bones

One of my favorite chapters of scriptures is Ezekiel 37.  In this passage, the Lord God took Ezekiel, the prophet, by spirit into an open valley.  In that valley, bones were scattered everywhere.  There were a great number of bones and they were said to be very dry.  The Lord asked Ezekiel, "Son of man, Can these bones live?" Ezekiel answered, "God, you know." From there God tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the bones and to tell the bones, "Thus saith the Lord, I will put you back together. I will lay sinews, flesh, and skin on you and put breath in you and you will live and you will know that I am the Lord." Ezekiel prophesied as God commanded. In the midst of Ezekiel prophesying the bones started coming together. Then the sinews and flesh came upon them and skin, but they didn't breath.  God then tells Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind and to tell the wind to come from the four winds and blow upon the bones that they may live.  So again, Ezekiel obediently prophesied.  And it was so.  The bones lived and stood upon their feet.  They were an exceedingly great army.  Oh, does that minister!

Let's look into this scripture together.  The Lord saw fit to set this scripture in the valley.  Well, what is a valley?  A valley is a place of division.  What once was together has been breached, rended, ripped up, or torn.   The valley is the bottom of what once was a pinnacle. It's stuck in the middle.  Behind it is a heart wrenching reminder of what once was and in front is a painful picture of what  should be.  We've all been in the valley.   Valley moments are moments in which we are at our lowest.  Situations we are in have us stuck between a rock and a hard place.  Getting out seems nearly impossible.  Keep reading.  

In the valley, there were bones.  There were lots of them.  They were very dry.  The bones represent our state of being.   The fact that there were so many represents the fact that so many people are in the valley.  The hardships that they have experienced in the valley, sickness-financial hardship-torn relationships-etc.- have the people hopeless...very hopeless...in essence, dead.  

God knows just how to revive his people, though.  God finds a person who has faith in Him to declare His word over his people. He tells Ezekiel to speak over them that God has declared their restoration.   Immediately at the declaration of the word of the Lord things begin to come together.  This indicates that when we are vexed and downtrodden, we have to stand on God's word, even when we are at our driest point having been stuck in our hopelessness for years.  Speak his word.  God's word overrides the impact of time and circumstance.  The effectiveness of God's word is instant.  His word is potent.  His word is life.    

God was very systematic in his restoration of his people.  Notice how God set up the bones first. The bones represent a support system.  When we are in the valley of hopelessness, we become dead.  We are not even able to seek help for ourselves. God sends a support system.  He'll lead people to pray and intercede for you, people will witness to you, friends and family or even strangers will come to your aid.

Next, God restored the sinews, which is the muscle.  Muscle indicates strength.  You'll begin to notice that something on the inside is keeping you going.  You begin to operate   on supernatural strength.  You wanted to throw in the towel, but now you are ready for one more round.  Keep fighting.  God is in your corner.

Then God gave them flesh.  Flesh represents humanity.  It is a basic form of existence.  It is the body, in absence of the soul or spirit.

Then came the skin.  Skin serves a couple of purposes.  Our sense of touch occurs through the skin.   We use the term developing thick skin or being calloused in reference to our lack of sensitivity to what should affect us emotionally.  Skin also covers and protects what's inside of us. When God restored their skin, he restored their ability to sense and identify what is going on around them and their ability to hold everything together.

After all this rebuilding, though, there was still no life in them.  God told Ezekiel to prophesy again. He told Ezekiel to prophesy to the wind.  He told the wind to come from the four corners and breathe on the dead that they may live.  This shows us that even if the natural man is built up, we are not yet really alive until we receive the Spirit of God.  We need God working in us, not just around us.  His word says that we can pray to him in faith and ask to receive the Holy Spirit in us.  If you have not invited the Holy Spirit to live in you. Just say a prayer now.  Tell God you want to receive His spirit in you.

Once, the people had been restructured and the Holy Spirit restored, they lived.  Not only did they live again. The Bible says that they stood as an exceedingly great army.  All those restored lives became an awesome testament of the power of our God and they, now, could fight in behalf of others.  That is so awesome! I love it.

God had Ezekiel to prophesy once more.  This time his prophesy was direct.  God declared, "Behold, Oh my people,  I will open your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel.  And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my spirit in you, and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land: then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it."  At the end of it all, God wants us to know that He is the one who restores us and bring us back to life.  He is the one who takes us out of the valley and brings us back from the wrong places that we have taken ourselves.  When we are lifted up, it is by his strength, by his mighty hand, and by his word.  We could never do it on our own.  

I praise God for his willingness to bring us out of our dry, dead places.  If you feel as though you are living in a valley of dry bones, pray to God. Speak his word over your life, literally. Open your mouth and declare his promises.  The word of the Lord is truth.  His words never fail.  They stand forever.

Scripture:
Read Ezekiel 37: 1-14

Isaiah 55:11
So shal My word be that goes forth, out of My mouth: it shall not return to Me void [without producting any effect, useless], but it shall accomplish that which I please and purpose, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.

Hebrews 4:12

For the Word that God speaks is alive and full of power [making it active, operative, energizing, and effective]; it is sharper than any two-edged sword, penetrating to the dividing line of the brath of life (soul) and [the immortal] spirit, and of joints and marrow [of the deepest parts of our nature], exposing and sifting and analyzing and judging the very thoughts and purposes of the heart.

Prayer:
We praise you God. You are the source of our restoration.  You are our strength and our redeemer. Amen.